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THE WORKS OF TINTO BRASSMiranda(1985)
This was obviously an attempt to
capitalize on the success of The Key,
and it worked!
The Key had a depth and complexity that an artist can attain perhaps once in a lifetime —
if he’s lucky.
Miranda doesn’t even try to come close,
but it’s certainly cute in its own silly little way.
The sex-film industry concentrates
on corporate-ladder-climbing hard-bodied early-twentyish kids with only one thing on their mind —
and it has a propensity to present sex as a freakshow.
Miranda, on the other hand,
deals with ordinary-looking and more mature folk in ordinary situations,
and presents sex as natural and unsensational,
as a positive expression of affection.
The film is filled with wonderful set pieces and vignettes.
In the early 1950s innkeeper Miranda hopes that her MIA husband Gino will one day return.
Still in the town are leftovers from the war —
American servicemen, some young French women,
and various other international travelers, all of whom are at complete ease with one another.
Scenes of a country sunrise, singing at the inn, dancing at a picnic,
dashing about town in a motorcycle,
evoke a wistfulness that is rare in movies.
And the bit where Miranda and her friend Leda
fantasize about what the guys on the beach look like without their swimming trunks is a scream.
If you’re attuned to quiet, understated, leisurely, unpretentious entertainment,
this one’s for you.
Now, admittedly, Miranda and the remaining works in Tinto’s œuvre are not my favorites.
Most of them are fun.
Most of them are funny.
Most of them have lovely moments.
Most of them also have clunky moments.
All of them are didactic, with but a single message
(marriage, the universal panacea, must be maintained and salvaged and treasured at any cost,
even at the cost of wifey
Would you like to read the play this was based on?
I just discovered, a few moments ago, that you can!
Click here to read the original Italian edition with grammatical endnotes to help the English-speaking student along,
or click here to read the English translation by Clifford Bax.
Now, tell me, how did we survive prior to the Internet?
REVENGE:
At the end of the film, on the monument to those departed in battle,
in addition to the name of Miranda’s husband (Gino Rostagni)
are the following names:
Enrico Bottoli,
Luciano Maffezzoli,
Stefano Panizzi,
Marino Rasoli,
Guido Ravasi,
[???] Sanfelici,
S[???] Scaroni,
Pavel Soliani,
Cesare Spegni,
Aldo Orlandelli,
Tullio Cosulich,
G. Rondi Don,
and
Callisto Kezich).
In the supplemental section of the American DVD released by Cult Epics,
Brass explained that three of those names (Rondi, Cosulich, Kezich)
are plays upon the names of critics who had lambasted The Key.
It’s nice to have the last word, isn’t it?
CURIOSITY: A sequence of sound effects during the ice-cream-parlor scene is lifted from
NEROSUBIANCO.
 I know nothing about this.
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Giovanni Bertolucci presenta
|
| Soggetto di (Original story by) | Carla Cipriani |
| Freely adapted from | La locandiera, a play by Carlo Goldoni [uncredited, though explicitly referenced] |
| Operatore alla macchina (Camera operator) | Enrico Sasso |
| Collaborazione al montaggio (Assistant editor) | Fiorenza Müller |
| Montatore del suono (Sound Editor) | Sandro Peticca |
| Accanciature (Hair stylist) | Jole Cecchini |
| Trucco (Make-up) | Gilberto Provenghi |
| Fotografia di scena (Still photographer) | Gianfranco Salis |
| Uffocio stampa (Public relations) | Lilletta Bertolucci |
| Organizzatore amministrativo (Administration manager) | Mario Sampaolo |
| Organizzatori della produzione (Production managers) | Mario di Biase, Aldo U. Passalacqua |
| Costumi da bozzetti di (Costumes created by) | Jost Jakob |
| Scenografia e arredamento (Art director) | Paolo Biagetti |
| Musiche composte e dirette da (Music composed and directed by) | Riz Ortolani |
| CICCIA ODOROSA di Benjamin-Timbras-Ortolani cantata da Katyna Ranieri | |
| Direttore della fotografia (Director of photography) | Silvano Ippoliti |
| Prodotto da (Produced by) | Giovanni Bertolucci |
| per la (for) | San Francisco Film s.r.l. |
| Scritto, diretto e montato da (Written, directed and edited by) | Tinto Brass |
| Aiuto regista (Assistant director) | Sandro Peticca |
| Segretaria edizione (Continuity) | Carla Cipriani |
| Fonico (Sound) | Gaetano Carito |
| Arredatore (Set dresser) | Massimo Spano |
| Coreografo (Choreographer) | Giuseppe Pennese |
| Pittore (painter) | Otello Tiberi |
| Capo sq. elettricisti (Gaffer) | Sergio Spila |
| Capo sq. macchinisti (head grip) | Augusto Proietti |
| Attrezzista (prop man) | Roberto Magagnini |
| Tappezziere (upholsterer) | Rodolfo Mignacca [uncredited in English version] |
| Scene acrobatiche (stunt man) | Giorgio Ricci |
| Costruttorri (builders) | Egisto Calascibetta, Marco Davoli |
| Microfonista (boom man) | Marco di Biase |
| Costumista (wardrobe) | Stefania d’Amario, Anna Rasetti, Simonetta Mattei |
| Ispettori di produzione (unit managers) | Massimo Ferrero, Vittorio Fornasiero |
| Amministratrice / cassiera (pay master) | Dorina Mari |
| Aiuto truccatore (assistant make-up) | Antonio Maltempo |
| Assistenti alla regia (second assistant directors) | Domenico Saverni, Emanuela Lucidi |
| Assistenti operatori (assistant cameramen) | Ettore Corso, Luigi Bernardini |
| Assistente scenografo (assistant art director) | Emita Frigato [miscredited in English version] |
| Assistenti al montaggio (assistant editors) | Emanuela Lucidi, Giovanna Ritter, Manuela Ruggeri |
| Sarte (wardrobe) | Anna Rasetti, Simonetta Mattei |
| Segretari di produzione (production secretaries) | Francesca Andriotto, Mauro Babini |
| Elettricisti (best boys) | Franco Gubbiotti, Marcello Cardarelli, Franco Cardarelli [uncredited in English version] |
| Macchinisti (grips) | Luciano Spina, Luigi Orso, Riccardo Ferrero [uncredited in English version] |
| Location | “Po Valley” [uncredited in Italian version] |
| Mezzi tecnici, teatri di posa, colore, sonorizzazione (studios) | Cinecittà |
| Negativi (negative) | Kodak |
| Titoli e truke (titles and opticals) | Studio 4 [uncredited in English version] |
| Mixage (mixer) | Fausto Ancillai |
| Fonico di voice over (dubbing recorder) | Adriano Torbidone [uncredited in English version] |
| Effetti sonori (sound effects) | Cine Audio Effects |
| Effetti speciali (special effects) | Franco Celli [uncredited in English version] |
| Sartoria (wardrobe supplied by) | Neri Teatromoda |
| Gioielli (jewelry) | Paolo Fidemi [credited only as Fidemi in English version] |
| Parrucche (wigs) | Rocchetti-Carboni |
| Calzature (shoes) | L.C.P. |
| Arredamenti (set dressings) | GPR-Dedalo Rancati-Immaginoteca |
| Trasporti (transport) | Romana Trasporti Cinematografici [uncredited in English version] |
| Edizioni musicali (music publishers) | Frame Music s.r.l. Triple Time Music s.r.l. Unione Musicisti Roma |
| La colonna sonora del film è incisa su dischi (soundtrack available from) | Triple Time Music s.r.l. [uncredited in English version] |
| Distribuzione (distributed by) | R.C.A. [miscredited in Italian version] |
| Musiche di repertorio (songs) | BUTTA LA CHIAVE di Chiosso-Van Wood edizioni (publisher) Leonardi-ABC UN BACIO A MEZZANOTTE di Kramer-Garinei-Giovannini edizioni (publisher) Palladium MAMBO ITALIANO di Bob Merril Proprietà (publisher) Mondia Music PETITE FLEUR di S. Bechet edizioni Buffalo Bill Milano [uncredited in English version] |
| Post-synchronisation [English version] | Murphilm - Paris |
| Foreign sales | Film Export Group - Rome [uncredited in Italian version] |
| Released by | San Francisco Film srl, Rome |
| PERSONAGGI E INTERPRETI | |
| Miranda Rostagni | Serena Grandi |
| Berto | Andrea Occhipinti |
| Carlo | Franco Interlenghi |
| Norman | Andy J. Forest |
| Toni | Franco Branciaroli |
| Leda | ??? |
| Giulietta | Malisa Longo |
| Amica di Giulietta | Laura Sassi |
| ??? | Isabelle Illiers |
| ??? | Luciana Cirenei |
| Italo | Jean-René Lemoine |
| ??? | Mauro Paladini |
| Dog catcher? | Enzo Turrin |
| Man who sings in the bar | Osiride Pevarello |
